6-SCHOOLING IN SKIRTS

bedroom. "I looked in the kitchen and I don't see anything cooking."

I looked up from the note pad I had been lazily drawing circles on. "Huh? Oh ... Hi, Kathy."

“Are you sick or something? Come on, kiddo, you know the deal. I bring home the paycheck we live on, you do the cooking and cleaning. You're usually pretty conscientious what's wrong?"

000

I sighed heavily. "I forgot about the Halloween dance. It's Saturday night, and I don't have a single costume idea. And even if I had one, I don't have enough time to put something great together." I rolled off of the bed. "I'll put a couple of TV dinners in the microwave. Sorry I forgot."

Kathy patted me on the shoulder as I passed by her in the doorway. "If you don't have enough time, why don't you just throw a sheet over your head and go as a ghost?"

I stopped halfway down the hall. "Come on, Kathy. You know how much time I've put into my costumes before ... don't I have ENOUGH trouble with the kids I go to school with? If I show up with an ordinary, run-of-the-mill outfit, they'll start saying that my brain's finally failed!” I turned and looked at her. "And maybe they'd be right."

Kathy shrugged. "Then don't go."

"Oh, sure. Then they'll REALLY know I didn't have a costume idea."

"Hey, look, kiddo. It's only Wednesday. If you don't come up with something brilliant by Saturday, I'll help you put something together that's better than a sheet over your head. O.K.?”

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CHAPTER TWO

CONTEMPORARY TV FICTION -7

Well, between our star quarterback's attempts at becoming a nuclear physicist, the rest of the football team trying to write a passable book report for English 1A, and my own classes, I didn't have time the rest of the week to even think about a costume.

Saturday morning, my sister came in my room to wake me up, and asked me, "So, what are you going to your dance tonight as?"

The question jolted me awake. "Oh, god. My Halloween costume. I don't know!"

Kathy sat on the edge of the bed. "I've got an idea, if you're willing to go along with it."

"At this point, I'd go along with just about anything. What is it?"

"Well, I've noticed that you're almost exactly the same size as me."

"Yeah, so?"

"So why don't you let me dress you up in my clothes? You could wear my black leather miniskirt, and ...' I cut her off. "No way. Me? As a GIRL? Are you trying to make me a bigger laughingstock at MacArthur than I already am?"

"Danny, you'd look cute as a girl. Your hair is long enough for me to style, and you've got the same facial structure as me, so you'd look gorgeous in makeup!"

"Kathy, I am not going to walk into that gym wearing a miniskirt and high heels! I'll just throw a sheet over my head and go as a ghost."

"Danny," my sister badgered, "you already told me Wednesday that you didn't like that idea. Come on... this will be GREAT!"

"No way, Kathy." I laid back down and pulled the covers over my head, forcing her to stand up. "I'd rather not go at all."

"And prove that you didn't have a costume idea." She yanked the covers off me. I glared at her. "Those were